we support this resolution as a means to achieve meaningful tax reform we must acknowledge the fact that the underlying budget takes an f insufficient level of funding for nationalal defense. the chairman of the armed services committee and my highest priorities is to assure men or women serving in the military and have served in uniform have the training equipment and resources they need to keep our nation safe. the senate budget resolution will set defense spending at the levels dictated by the budget control act. this budgetge is $54 billion lat than the presidents request and $86 billion less than this body authorized justy last month in the national defense authorization act. we passed the national defense operation acts by it voted 89-9.

a the demonstration there were wanting bipartisan belief that the budget control act level defense spending is inadequate and be unacceptable. let me be clear. there is no tca level defense budget that would be sufficient to provide our military with what they need to fit fill current missions and prepare for future threats. for those of us who've been paying attention you heard the of the steady decline of our military. time and again, time and again our senior military defense leaders have sounded theit alarm about the dangers of the budget control act spending caps. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are highest military officer jennifer -- general dunford has warned if we continue on the current path and that quote within five years we will lose our ability to protect power on how we defend the homeland advanced u.s. interest

and meet our alliance commitments. make no mistake about it. what that means america's military advantage iser degrade. without the ability to protect power -- project power report was not only her ability to secure a just and protect our nation but also the unprecedented security and prosperity of america" or -- global leadership is provided the world and george w. bush today gave a very strong statement emphasizing this problem and challenge that we face. this is a strategic reality we are facing in the next five years. it should not he has surprised. we have seen the steady degradation of the military the operational tempo combined with an adequate and non-stable funding as over the past 16

years one down the greatest military in the world. just this last week our secretary of defense mattis sent a letter to the armed services committee expressing hisg concerns with regard to the national defense authorization actur we are currently negotiatg with the house. the very first thing he said if we are adjusting and to policy changes and reforms the bill the primary concern is the budget control act. we know why. because the defense spending caps are doing harm to our military. secretary mattis quote as i've testified before your committee no enemy has done more to harm the warfighting readiness our military than sequestration. i will repeat that for the benefit of my colleagues. no enemy has done more to harm the warfighting readiness of our military than sequestration. curt caps continue to

unnecessarily differ critical maintenance limit aviation ability and strain our men and women in uniform. we have seen the evidence of this harm. over the last few months there has been a rash of training accidents coalition's and crashes. we are seeing the tragic news far toothe often. seven sailors were killed when the uss fitzgerald collided with a container ship off the coast of japan. the kc 130 crash in mississippi killed all 16 troops on board. osprey helicopter crashed off the coast ofan australia resultg in the deaths of three marines. an army helicopter crashed up the coast of hawaii with five soldiers presumed dead. 10 sailors perished when the uss mccain colin i did with the tanker near singapore. an army blackhawk helicopter went down during a training mission off the coast of yemen

and one soldier died. one soldier died when a helicopter amphibious vehicle explosion a camp pendleton a demolition ax in the fort drag killed one soldier and injured seven others. two navy pilots died in a crash in tennessee. my friends we are now losing more of our men and women in uniform and totally avoidable training accidents than we are in combat. there is plenty of blame to go around for all of these incidents and wey cannot or the fact that congress's inability to provide adequate stable and predictable budgeting is contributed to the troubling state of affairs. we'll increase funding is not is noly answer there scenario that the military can get healthy and ready to meet the challenges of an increasing unstable world without

additional resources. with broad bipartisan agreement about that the members of the house of representatives and the senate and the president and yet, and yet we are about to vote for a budget resolution is severely in the funds the military. the reality is we all know it will not impact the actual appropriations. to solve these problems and to the seller duty to the men and women inrm uniform we must negotiate a bipartisan budget agreement that will lift the defense spending. only then can we rebuild the military reverse the disturbing readinesstu crisis and retain hr ability to protect power and secure our interest around the world. might i remind my colleagues that the fiscal year starting three weeks ago and the defense department is currently operating under a continuing resolution we know the harmful effects it will have on the

military. that's why getting to work on a budget deal is so urgent. we must delay no longer. the budget resolution is not meant to provide broader budget agreement. this budget resolution is a means to get tax reform however this budget resolution does represent something extremely troubling. the republican party used to be unified in support for a strong national defense. if our leaders in congress and the white house to immediately get to work negotiating a deal to lift defense caps and fund the military at a higher level in this budget resolution i'm not sure we will be able to claim that mantle any longer. mr. president i just want to sum up by saying we have a problem in the military today and that is the first thing that goes are

the easy ones, the training, readinessos spare parts and the flying hours. those are the one to get that first because they are the easiest. cutting a major weapon system or program is extremely difficult so now we have this list of men and women serving in the military that we are responsible at least partially for the death and injury. why? because they are not able to be trained and they are not able to be equipped. they are not able to maintain and 60% of the f-15s are not able to fly. we have sailors and airmen who are working 100 hour work weeks. we have a gigantic problem with the ability to simply operate. meanwhile our adversaries are stepping up their capabilities obviously every time we turn around there's another crisis of

some kind. look at the world that years ago and look at the world today and you will find a an incredible deterioration of america'sca position and influence in the world. on the front page of the economist magazine thisag week s aa picture of the dictator of chinana and the title is the mot powerful man in the world andld it's true, and it's true. here we are with a budget resolution basically that is cut our military that is basically need and my friends i do not mean to get emotional but why should we send these young men and women in uniform in harm's way without all they need in order to fight and defend this nation? right now they are not ready. right now their planes can't fly. right now they are not able to operate and train. they are notdy ready and that is

not john mccain's word, that is our military leaders words and some of the most respected people in america and the world, general mattis, gentlemen master, general kelly they will all tell you the same thing. when we send our young men and women into hazardous situations without them being completely equipped incapable of defending themselves that's wrong. what greater responsibility do wewe have two the men and women who are serving us in uniform today? how many members of this body how many of the 100 members of this body do we even had an operation in niger? i won't go into the details in deference to the families but this is wrong what we are doing. we saw it in the 70s and now we are seeing it again.

it was marked by and i believe that said history doesn't repeat itself when it rhymes and it's beginning to rhyme. if we don't increase our spending to the level is authorized by the defense authorization act then we will bear some responsibility for what happens. mr. president i yield the floor. >> when i first went in, it's a long story but i was barely able to get back to the surface but then a bunch of them jumped in and there is a picture which i am sure you will show of them pulling me out of the lake.

you can see my arm is broken and then of course once they pulled me out they weren't very happy to see me. i just finished bombing the place. and so it got pretty rough. i broke my shoulder and i hurt my knee again but look, i don't blame them. i don't land them. we are in a war. i don't like it but at the same time when you're in a war and you were captured by the enemy you can't expect you know to have teeth. ..

told a crowd at a national security summit in dc that russia's efforts to influence the 2016 elections did not affect the outcome. a reported business insider notes a spokesman said of the intelligence assessment with

regard to russian election meddling hasn't changed and the director didn't intend to suggest that it had. a public version was released in january of this year. it says the agency didn't make an assessment of the impact russian activities have on the outcome of the 2016 election. we will bring these remarks from earlier today. [applause] >> i want to thank everyone for posting this incredibly importanhosting this incredibly important and timely national security forum. take time to reflect on the national security issues of the day. i